Irina Liebmann

Biography

Irina Liebmann was born in 1943 in Moscow, as the daughter of Rudolf Herrnstadt, a German journalist, and Valentina Herrnstadt, a Russian Germanist. She moved to Berlin in 1945 with her parents, and she spent her childhood in East Berlin, Merseburg and Halle/Saale (then in the GDR). From 1961 to 1966 she studied in Leipzig, graduating with a degree in Sinology and Cultural Studies.

Liebmann worked as an editorial journalist for the magazine Deutsche Außenpolitik from 1966 to 1975, specialising in the field of developing countries. During this time she met Rolf Liebmann, who played a significant role in the development of the GDR documentary film. Between 1975 and 1979 she worked as a freelance writer for the magazine Wochenschrift and, in the years to follow, she continued to write journalistic texts, while also turning her hand to more literary works. In 1988 she applied for an exit visa, which enabled her to move with her daughter to West Berlin in 1989.

Essa, Leila: ‘Partition in the Private Sphere: Family Narratives as Vehicles for the Trauma of National History in Anita Desai’s Clear Light of Day and Irina Liebmann’s Die freien Frauen’ (Anglia 133.3, 2015, pp. 489-510)